The delay in the release of merit list for MBBS/BDS by the State government has only led to more confusion. Students who have cleared the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test remain uncertain about their prospects in the State.
The uncertainty is higher for students from other boards who have scored well in NEET and are hoping for a seat in the State government-run colleges through the All India Quota.
The last date to lock preferences under the All India Quota for seats under the 15% reservation ended on July 11. Counselling for these seats is expected to start from July 13.
It is in this situation that the court has stayed the declaration of merit list, which was expected on July 14.
The parents of a student, who had cleared NEET with over 300 marks, are still hoping that the State government would stick to its schedule and release the merit list.
Several options open
K. Bhagavathi, a CBSE student who has cleared NEET, said he had hoped to get into a government college. “I did not think the State board students would get good scores in NEET.
“But there are many who have scored over 600 so I don’t stand a chance. Two of my friends who have scored better than me and have qualified under the unreserved category have other plans. One of them has applied for deemed university and another has taken a year off to prepare for NEET,” he said.
Several organisations continuing their protest against NEET has not helped matters.
A senior official of the State government, however, said the government would win the case against imposition of NEET this year as Tamil Nadu had not followed in the footsteps of Gujarat, which had adopted the Central government recommended syllabus three months prior to NEET.
Counselling put off
The second phase of counselling for admission to undergraduate courses offered by the constituent and affiliated colleges of the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University has been postponed till the medical and engineering admissions are completed.
S. Mahimairaja, Dean, Agriculture, and Chairman - Admissions, said that after the first phase counselling, which ended on June 24, there were just three vacancies in the constituent colleges and 210 vacancies in the affiliated colleges. However, there were a lot of dropouts in the last two or three weeks.
“In order to avoid further dropouts, we are waiting for the medical counselling to get over,” he said.
About 50,000 students had applied for 3,080 seats this year.
( With input from M. Soundarya Preetha in Coimbatore )
